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Rumours, Innuendos and Flat out B.S.: 2017-18 Edition

The biggest problem this team has is that it's just good enough to provide ammunition to those who want to maintain the status quo. If it sucked completely and had no redeeming qualities making changes would be easy to accept. But why clamour for getting rid of Pleks, who is consistent and seems likable? And Markov. Sure he's lost a step but he's a life-long Hab and he's played on the top pair for so long. And sure, Max isn't a prototypical power forward but he's the only legitimate scoring threat we've got among the top 6 so we can't be without him....

And on and on and on.

This series perfectly illustrates how meaningless regular season results really are. If you can't match in the playoffs what you brought to the table during the season then you are, by definition, a fraud.

And you need to go.

In the end I don't really care that Pleks and Markov don't talk to the press, don't make waves and show up for work every day. If they don't or no longer have that extra gear needed to perform in the post-season then they are just taking up space and it's up to the GM to tell them that they're done here. I also don't care that Max is a big physical presence who can score 35-39 goals. If he doesn't use that size to drive the net, if he's playing in fear of getting another concussion or whatever else is causing him to vanish into thin air as soon as the playoffs arrive, he too is just taking up space and needs to pack his bags (and his signature hamburger) and go.

But mostly and first, before any players are dealt away, this coach must be fired. We don't even know how well this team can play because it is shackled by a man who coaches out of fear. All we know for sure is that the only time they seem to play an exciting brand of hockey is during those occasions when circumstances necessitate the abandonment of the coach's preferred system. That, more than anything, should tell us all we need to know about him.

But mostly he needs to go because his philosophy is the complete opposite of Bergevin's philosophy. The GM is trying to build one kind of team (fast, skilled, exciting) and the coach is trying to beat that out of them and make them a plodding, dump-and-chase team. And of course it isn't working because the GM isn't acquiring players who are well-suited to that style. Therrien is essentially trying to make race horses pull milk wagons. Bergevin knows this and to an extent has tried to do it Therrien's way (mostly because Therrien has sabotaged every move designed to produce more offence. He gets Briere and his coach puts him on the fourth line and only plays him 8 minutes a night) So Bergevin makes these remedial moves to shore up the blue line or the bottom six because his coach is fixated on nothing else.

Once the season ends, Bergevin needs to go hard after Babpenis. Get an agreement worked out with him and then fire Therrien the same day Babs signs the contract. If the francophone media jackals don't like it, tough. But they won't be able to whine too much since Babpenis is a proven winner and easily the best available coach out there. No one will be able to argue that some "ti-gars" deserves the job more than him.

Once that's taken care of, get to work on tearing down this regular season division winning team and start building a team that wins Cups.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

I was almost ok with what you wrote until you said get babpenis. He wants a quasi GM role and I doubt Bergiven wants that.

That said, come playoff time the habs top six tend to disappear. Pleks, Dd, definitely Patches(Don't make this guy Captain). It's telling that last years run was fueled by Eller, Bourque and Weise playing out of their mind hockey.

The only reason I would want the habs to blow it up is because I have no faith in the clubs ability to rebuilt and retool on the fly. Sadly it's better to keep this core together and hope the stars align in the postseason one day.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Originally Posted by Habitants87

I was almost ok with what you wrote until you said get babpenis. He wants a quasi GM role and I doubt Bergiven wants that.

That said, come playoff time the habs top six tend to disappear. Pleks, Dd, definitely Patches(Don't make this guy Captain). It's telling that last years run was fueled by Eller, Bourque and Weise playing out of their mind hockey.

The only reason I would want the habs to blow it up is because I have no faith in the clubs ability to rebuilt and retool on the fly. Sadly it's better to keep this core together and hope the stars align in the postseason one day.

Babcock wants (allegedly) a say in player personnel and to be the highest paid coach in the league. Explain to me the Sekac for DSP if Therrien had no say in player personnel?

Elite goaltending will hide a lot of a bad team's flaws and make them look a lot better than they truly are. That's why Carey Price is the single most important player to his team in the NHL.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Originally Posted by Habs53

Gut a 110 point team.. ya ok lol

Why not? Regular season points are meaningless if you get your hat handed to you in the first round. Believe me, if this team stubs it's toe in the next two games and is on the golf course next Wednesday morning, no one is going to give a rat's ass about how many points they got in the regular season and it shouldn't be enough to save anyone's job.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Originally Posted by Habs53

Gut a 110 point team.. ya ok lol

The problem is simple , we are hiding behind a franchise goalie and hope that this safe hockey approach system we have is good enough to cover our deficiencies and stay competitive. We dont have that extra gear , intestinal fortitude, and enough talent to bring home Stanley.

Problem is our core isnt good enough , are we prepared to take 2 steps back for 3 forward and start moving out some assets instead of this wash rinse and repeat shit every year.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Originally Posted by GEEMAN

The problem is simple , we are hiding behind a franchise goalie and hope that this safe hockey approach system we have is good enough to cover our deficiencies and stay competitive. We dont have that extra gear , intestinal fortitude, and enough talent to bring home Stanley.

Problem is our core isnt good enough , are we prepared to take 2 steps back for 3 forward and start moving out some assets instead of this wash rinse and repeat shit every year.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Could have waited at least until we lost in a series. Also for Babcock. They will never hire him...no French. Learn to live with it or cheer for another team

I disagree. There are a few anglo coaches that the fans and media would accept and Babpenis is one of them.

Needless to say, Cunneyworth was not one of them, nor should he have been.

In order to sell an anglo coach said coach needs to have credentials that are impeccable enough to quash any dissent. You can't say no to a coach who's won multiple Cups and has ties to Montreal like Babs if your only argument is that he doesn't speak French. The only way you can say no to him is if you can produce a francophone candidate with similar credentials. That francophone candidate does not exist.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

If having a french speaking coach is so important then they should be grooming them instead of just hiring whichever one happens to be on top of the scrap heap. The pool of talent is so shallow we had to hire Therrien twice already. What's next? The return of Claude Julien?

I don't buy your argument. Molson cares about profits and the season ticket base isn't going to blithely accept yearly ticket price increases if there's no realistic hope for a Cup. This ain't Toronto. Molson needs a winner to get rich because Montreal fans are too fickle to rely on. I'm not saying that losing seasons will cause the team to go belly up, but the profit margins won't be as high and they won't always grow from year to year. Not if the team stagnates.

In the end, the fans want to win. If the team wins, no one is going to care what language the coach speaks.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Originally Posted by WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou

If having a french speaking coach is so important then they should be grooming them instead of just hiring whichever one happens to be on top of the scrap heap. The pool of talent is so shallow we had to hire Therrien twice already. What's next? The return of Claude Julien?

I don't buy your argument. Molson cares about profits and the season ticket base isn't going to blithely accept yearly ticket price increases if there's no realistic hope for a Cup. This ain't Toronto. Molson needs a winner to get rich because Montreal fans are too fickle to rely on. I'm not saying that losing seasons will cause the team to go belly up, but the profit margins won't be as high and they won't always grow from year to year. Not if the team stagnates.

In the end, the fans want to win. If the team wins, no one is going to care what language the coach speaks.

Team won with MT. Get into the playoffs is important. Winning the cup is the dream

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

The team hasn't won anything of significance with Therrien. Half the teams in the league make the playoffs. It's not an accomplishment. And for some teams, winning Cups isn't a dream; it's a realistic goal that they actively work at achieving. When you treat it like a dream you ensure that it will only ever be a dream. I don't think Habs fans dream about winning Cups. They expect to win them. They don't want a team of dreamers. They want a team of achievers.

Jets fans dream about winning Cups but still buy tickets because they're just happy to be there. The only thing that makes a Habs fan happy is an unbroken string of success. No hopes and dreams with them; just expectations which need to be met.

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

We ran into the hottest team in the league. A team that could very well be fighting us for first place next year. Maybe give the Sens some credit instead of gutting our team. We can and probably still will win this series

Re: Once again, it's time to gut this team

Originally Posted by TheCountofMonteCristo

you all would still bitch after every loss

Nope its got nothing to do with crying after every loss , the question is do you want to try to win a cup one day or stay status quo of hiding behind Price ? Do you want the ineffective 51-14 down the middle and top 6 fiasco we have now ?

Are you ready to make the tough personnel decisions and cut bait with some players or resign 14 and hope at 37 he finds his playoff magic?